One of Leeds' lesser-known and most esoteric landmarks - Tower Works - is celebrated with an exhibition and activities.

Throughout June 2009, artist collective Black Dogs invite the general public to ponder over the curious history and origins of one of Leeds' most eccentric landmarks, Tower Works in Holbeck.

Maverick pin-maker Colonel Harding opened the site in 1864, choosing to give Leeds factory workers and residents a little taste of Italy by replicating three towering attractions from Florence, Verona and Tuscany. The Italianate towers of Holbeck have long been a striking contribution to Leeds' skyline and now you are invited to celebrate, learn, and pass on your stories about Tower Works. Black Dogs will offer opportunities to do so in a series of exhibitions, installations and activities throughout June:

Listen to the bells of the Florentine Campanile ring out across Holbeck as the Leeds version finally fulfils its bell-tower ambition. At three points each day the signature sound of Florence will be transported to Holbeck to help close the gap between these estranged towers.

View a selection of photographs and video bringing together The Giotto Tower and its original big brother in Florence. These will be displayed across two sites - The Carriageworks on Millennium Square and The Midnight Bell pub opposite Tower Works in Holbeck.

There will be guided walks around Holbeck and the City Centre that take in the viewpoints from which you can spy the Towers. The walks will offer the chance to learn about their exotic history and for the public to inform the curators of what they know! They want your stories, from the mundane to the bizarre, the factual to the fictitious; share your memories and thoughts about these often-overlooked architectural marvels.

Throughout June 2009 the campanile bell rings at 12noon, 5pm and 11pm - keep an ear open! Self-guided walks are available by picking up a free map from the exhibitions or at various sites around Leeds. Details of the guided walks are as follows:

Lol Munki. Yes they are my pics.I got asked if i didn't mind them using them AFTER they used them.I said how it was more courteous normally to ask first

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Hi Phil

We've just done a piece for the website about some activities relating to Tower Works in Holbeck and in searching for some decent images to illustrate it with, we stumbled across the ones on your Flickr page and used a couple - with a credit, of course. I hope this is ok - let me know if there's a problem and we'll remove them:

This sounds really interesting (and great pics as usual Phill!) - Tower Works is such an amazing place, and it deserves to get more recognition.

It's also solved a mystery that I posted about on SL a couple of months ago - we heard bells ringing from the direction of Tower Works while walking along the canal one weekend, and couldn't find out what was going on, but now I'm guessing that it was probably a 'rehearsal' for this project. I'm very relieved to find that I wasn't imagining it after all!